Improvement in piano-fortes



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

`WM. H. MASON, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND H. K. Wl. PALMER, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PIANO-FORTES.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,950, dated'Octoher 16, 1866.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, WiLLiAM H. MASON, of Boston, iii the county of Suffolk and State ot' Massachusetts, have made a new and useful invention having reference to Piano-Fortes; and do hereby declare the same to be fully described iii the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Fignre i denotes a top view, and Fig. 2 a sideview, of my invention as applied to three of the octave-keys of a piano-forte.

The principal object of my invention is to so connect with any key the next octave-key that the striking ot' the former shall not only canse its own hammer to be thrown up, but at the same time shall canse the elevation of the hammer of the octave-key.

In carrying out my invention I have also provided it with a means of throwing the octaveconnections either into or ont of action, as circumstances may require, in order to enable the piano to be played either with single notes or the saine and the oetaves thereof.

In the drawings, A A A2 are the three octave-keys, of which B B2 B3 are the hammers.

A fulcrum-bar, C, extends across the keys, and is arranged above them, as represented, and rests on two movable cams or wedges, D D, each of which is jointed to one of two arms, E E, extending upward from a horizontal shaft, F. A slide-rod, G, jointed to one of the said arms, and arranged as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, enables the wedges or cams to be moved longitudinally, either forward or backward,for the purpose of either raising or lowering the fulcruin-bar C.

O11 this fulcrum-bar there rests a series of levers, H H. One of these levers is, at one end, connected with one key, A, by a exible strap, a, and such lever is at its other end also similarly connected to the next octave-key, Al, or to a tongue, l, similarly hinged or applied to the lever, so as to be capable of being raised independently of the lever, and ot' putting the hammer thereof in action, the jack K ot' the said hammer B being extended upward from the tongue.

The next lever H is connected in like manner with the two keys A1 A?, or with the first of such keys, and with a ton gue, I, applied to the other key, A?, and supporting the jack thereof. Each of such levers is pivoted on the Fulcrum-bar.

The purpose ot' the tongue I is to enable its hammer to be thrown up b v the lever II connected to such tongue without at the same time operating the key to which such tongue is directly applied.

By lowering the fulcrnm-bar O by pushing forward its sustaining-wedges the levers Il Il will be brought so near the key-levers that the latter, when struck, will impart no motion to such levers H H, and consequently, under this state ot' things, there will be no sounding of the octave simultaneously' with the striking ol' a key.

I claim- 1. The combination of the lever Il and its exible connections a a with the two octavekeys of a piano-forte.

2. The combination and arrangement of the ton gne I with the lever II, its iexible connections c a, and the two octave-keys of a pianoforte.

W. Il. MASON.

Witnesses It. Il'. EDDY, F. l. HALE, J r. 

